Doomsday Pillars

Lieutenant Erick and Rob Grogs led the main squad skimming through the ground floor. This team consisted of the same ten-man squad of low and mid-stage sky realm with Rob being the highest level mid-stage sky realm. 

The Lieutenant, Rob, and the rest of Charlie's squad moved silently across the casino. Thanks to the crazy Asians who were able to lure the monsters away from this place, the journey across the Venetian Casino was done without any hassle. 

"That must be the vault room." Lieutenant Erick said as he and the football player motioned the soldiers to fall in behind him. He quickly but silently made his way toward the far end of the corridor. 

This corridor led to a gigantic circular metal door. The door had bars and handles that criss crossed here and there. It seemed the zombies and who knew what other creature had been trying to enter the vault only to no avail because of this.

Making sure the area was clear, Lieutenant Erick then beckoned the soldiers to come over. Afterward, the group slowly rotated the lever while wishing dearly their target was still safe inside. As soon as the huge steel door made a loud sound and opened, Lieutenant Erick quickly shouted.

"US Marine! We have come to rescue you all!"

The lieutenant shouted their identity to make sure if there were people who survived, they wouldn't shoot them as soon as the door completely opened.

"Enter slowly, soldiers!" shouted a voice from inside, and this surely meant that there was really at least a survivor inside the vault.

And as soon as the door laid itself bare, the soldiers immediately caught sight of them. A group of people, to be exact, inside the huge vault living among the gold and cash for the last ten days.

There were 20 people who could be seen, half soldiers and half civilians. Among them, one of those in the soldier uniform was the VIP they were looking for. A valiant-looking middle-aged man with stars embedded on his uniform.

"General Daniel Campbell, Sir. We're ordered to escort you and everyone here out of this god-forsaken place."

As soon as Lieutenant Erick finished his words, there was a sudden cheer among the group of survivors. 

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The soldiers who hid in the vault were somehow still in their prime condition as they were at least Earth realm fighters who needed less sustenance, however, the civilians were definitely not the case. Hence the Lieutenant quickly told the soldiers to help the civilians with drinks while he personally asked the general to move out first.

However, the general unexpectedly refused to go.

"Lizzie should have prioritized other rescues first," said General Daniel wryly. Despite the haggard-looking face, the general still managed to make an amused smile. "Get the civilian first. They need your help more than me."

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Sir. You are our top priority." Rob insisted.

"I serve the states and its people. Look after them first. This is an order." General Campbell stated firmly.

Rob and Glen took another look at the civilians and quickly understood how the general felt. Their eyes were empty, seemingly lost hope and tried very hard to hold the last sliver of life hanging in their bodies. After all, extreme malnourishment and lack of liquid consumption tend to cause severe innards damage. 

"All right, we'll help the civilians first. Bring the stretchers!" Rob instructed the men. The marines seemed hesitant at first to leave the general's side and waited for his confirmation. Seeing how his subordinates reacted, the general quickly instructed his men to assist the evacuation of the civilians.

With the number of survivors plus the civilians' overall bad condition, it would be hard to evacuate all of the survivors through the front door. If they insisted on doing that, the evacuation process would only slow down their advance and could severely jeopardize the whole mission. 

The time was ticking and the Lieutenant knew he had to take immediate action. Fortunately, he had read the building scheme beforehand and just knew where to proceed.

"Alpha squad, do you copy?" Lieutenant Erick spoke to his earpiece. "We've found the VIP and are going to extract him right now. Find a way to move the truck to the backyard now!"

"Copy that, Lieutenant!"

The lieutenant ordered 2 of his men to stay with the survivors while he brought the rest to secure the path to the back door.

The group silently made their way to the nearest corridor which led to the extraction point. When they safely passed the corridor, they arrived at a hangar which should've led to the backdoor; however the Lieutenant's expression quickly changed upon seeing what blocked their way. 

The hangar in front of them was full of stone gargoyles. Fortunately, the flying beasts were fast asleep like a statue as it was still midday. Still, they would certainly wake up if they were heavily disturbed.

Thus Lieutenant Erick quickly gestured, and the soldiers slowly retreated back to the corridor. They had to find another way out because this hangar was a one-way trip to the underworld.

[Stone Wall]

Rob, as an earth spirit enhancer decided to raise a wall to seal the hangar entrance so that when something got out of hand the gargoyle wouldn't complicate things. The wall was ten feet thick and completely covered the corridor entrance.

"Find me another way, soldiers!" 

The group quickly found the building layout on the wall near the stairs. They naturally managed to find a different path, however, the next room was so dark that they needed to use a flashlight to be able to see. Charlie's squad of eight people proceeded to sweep the room carefully, looking for any possible danger.

As they entered and scoured the room, Rob quickly felt a bad feeling with the place.

"Lieutenant, I believe we should find a different path.."

"This is the fastest route! We don't have much time.. Those dogs could return any min-"

The lieutenant's word died out in his throat as he heard a loud roar coming from his side.

There were 6 pairs of bloody red eyes staring at them from the corner of the darkroom. The growl that reverberated from the beast sent shivers down their spine, making them feel weak on the knees.

There, right in front of the lieutenant, hulking with its tall body, the three headed dogs of hell, The Cerberus.

Before the lieutenant could give an order, the creature had lunged at him and took a chunk of his head and upper torso. His body was then flung across the room with a swipe of a gigantic paw. The mutilated body went quite the distance and stopped right in front of the evacuation team.

"Liutenant!!"

Just like that, Lieutenant Erik the platoon leader died in front of them.

The team tried to suppress the horror that filled their hearts. Even the bravest of them, all would flatter in the face of imminent danger. With the lieutenant dead, it was Rob who was now in charge by default.

Rob was debating with himself about the situation. He could manage to fight or hold this beast alone on his own for several minutes till the reinforcement came. But the general and several civilians had yet to be evacuated. Besides, the situation could likely escalate and get worse the longer they were here.

With this option,  he finally decided to lure the beast away from them. With that decision made up in his mind, Rob had to get the beast away from the exit door first.

He quickly took out an ax from his storage ring and used his famous arm to throw the ax directly to one of the three heads. A pained howl was heard in the air before the Cerberus simultaneously turned its heads toward Rob.

Seeing that, he immediately dashed to the room next door, luring the three headed monster away from the exit path it blocked.

"Come after me you big fucking animal!!"